November To-Do List

It's time to get started on the penultimate month of 2013.

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The Best of Webcomics.com, October 2013

For only $30, you get 12 consecutive months of information, tutorials, critiques and intelligent discussion among serious cartoonists. (And you don't have to wade through a couple dozen self-promotional pitches to get to the good stuff!)

Of course, you can always buy my new book -- out in digital release right now. The Webcomics Handbook is the sequel to How To Make Webcomics, and it's based on some of the best information from Webcomics.com, and you can read it right now. Of course, members of the site get it for 50% off.

Best of the site

We wrapped up our Hitch It / Ditch It Hot seat series in which we took participants' comics/site and chose one this they were doing great and one thing that needed to be improved.

Wibiya folds... how to export your data

How To Make Webcomics: Exclusive member benefit -- 50% off the digital edition.

SendOwl adds pay-what-you-want pricing

Follow @Webcomicscom News, updates and trending topics will be shared on this special Twitter feed.

Holiday Card workshop: Members are encouraged to post the holiday cards they plan to offer as site merchandise to get comments and constructive criticism.

How to prep comics for Kindle Direct Publishing

The On-The-Spot Hot Seat is announced. On any given day, we look at your site, and you stand on your merits on that day alone.

Five tips for taking your comic to the next level

Longform comics - A new Web-publishing approach: I'm particularly proud of this one. I've written up a comprehensive publishing approach that I think would benefit creators of longform comics. It means looking at "webcomics" a little differently. And I'm very excited to see it in practice among members in the months to come.

WordPress 3.7 - What it means to you, and how to make best use of this game-changing software update.

"Breaking Bad" creator -- a vote in favor of working for "exposure"? I cite a recent quote by "Breaking Bad" creator Vince Gilligan on the positive effect that digital pirating has had on his blockbuster TV series, and, citing other sources ranging from the London School of Economics to TorrentFreak.com, parse the "work for exposure" and "comic scraper" debates in a new way. The resulting discussion was tremendous.

Three easy steps to be listed FIRST as a graphic designer. In this guest post, Michael Corley takes us on a little "SEO 101" crash course to help us excell in a side-job that many of us cartoonists cultivate.

Webcomics Confidential semi-exclusive! The Kickstarter backers of The Webcomics Handbook were the first to hear this in-depth conversation about Kickstarter with "professional sidekick" George Rohac. Webcomics.com members got a chance to hear it after that -- and before it became public.

Google Analytics: Leave a Note: I took the Google Analytics Academy course on Digital Analytics Fundamentals, and I shared this useful tip I learned in the process.

Best of the Private Forum

The end of AdBlock?

Chinese printers, pros and cons

Do I have enough readers to do a Kickstarter?

The pros and cons of webcomics

Extra content for print editions?

Back to basics: The static page

Physical comic-art portfolio for comic conventions

Color vs b&w -- does it matter?

Bristol board recommendations

Webcomics priorities -- What are yours?

What's the best Web host?

Chargeback from a Kickstarter backer -- advice?

Has anyone paid to boost a post on facebook?

Comic Chameleon

Platinum Studios: A cautionary tale

Webcomics vs Bitstrips

Saturday Deep Dive: Ten Tips for Beginning Cartoonists

Today's dive into the deeper archive of Webcomics.com brings us to a tip list for people just starting out in webcomics.

We've been hitting a lot of mid-to-upper-level topics here lately, so I wanted to take an opportunity to do a post that addresses some concerns of our members who find themselves either starting out or withing the first two years of their webcomics. Here are ten tips that I would tell anyone starting out.

1. Just do it

Read the entire list and join the conversation.

Friday Archive Dive: First-World Cartoonist Problems

Today's Archive Dive comes from Nov. 6, 2012, when we discussed the new age-old question: What comes first, the tweet or the 'toon?

On his site yesterday, Scott Kurtz shared a rather interesting thought.

More than once I’ve twittered something that I consider to be smart and funny when suddenly my feeling of pride fades as I realize. “Oh shit. That was a comic strip.” I mean looking back at one my favorite tweets:

That’s PvP comedy gold, and I’m wasting it. Eagerly. Instead of chuckling and writing that down in a notebook for use later, I felt this bullshit social pressure to say something funny on twitter. UGH. 

Read the original post for the whole story.

It's a great topic for discussion. We've spoken often here about using the power of Twitter to promote our sites. And you can't build Twitter followers on promotional messages alone. You have to be enteraining -- you have to give your followers a reason to follow. But Scott brings up a question that lies at the base of all that -- shouldn't the best of that entertainment go to your comic?

Forgive me for getting all chicken-and-eggy, but: what comes first, the tweet or the 'toon?

Join the discussion under the original post.

Google Analytics: Leave a Note

In completing the Google Analytics Academy course on Digital Analytics Fundamentals, I picked up a lot of useful knowledge, but I wanted to share this tip right away because it was one of those "I wish I'd have known that a long time ago" things.